Dungeon Fighter Online (PC) Launches Beta Announced Program

Posted on 26 June 2009, at 12:14 pm, by Michael Anderson

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DungeonFighterOnline

Free-to-play massively multiplayer online (MMO) games have become more and more popular … but that doesn’t mean they have gotten better. In general free online games seem to fall into two categories: ‘razor & blade’ style swindles, and crap. But Nexon America is hoping to reverse both the perception and the trend with their upcoming game Dungeon Fighter Online. As a first step towards that final goal they are opening up applications to participate in a closed beta test of the game. The application process is open from now until July 6th, with the test itself coming at an unannounced later date.

Here is how publisher describes the game:

Dungeon Fighter Online pairs classic arcade-style action game play with an immersive RPG fantasy world and brings both online for one incredible free-to-play experience. Individuals who are selected as Closed Beta testers will be among the first in North America to venture into the mystical world of Arad, a peaceful land beset on all sides by the forces of darkness.

To beat back the sinister tide, players choose to be one of five character classes – Fighter, Gunner, Mage, Priest or Slayer – each with its own abilities and devastating attack combinations. From there, it’s off on a fantastic journey through Arad’s towns and villages, where a colorful ensemble of quirky characters send players on increasingly perilous quests. Along the way, players can fully customize themselves with weapons, armor and, of course, the most killer threads.

Dungeon Fighter Online is already a huge success in China, much as World of Warcraft dominates in North America. It has also become available in Korea recently.

MMO specialty suite Massively did a preview of the game as part of their E3 coverage, here are some of their thoughts:

Nexon’s upcoming free to play title Dungeon Fighter Online isn’t quite like anything we’ve seen before — and at the same time, it’s a lot like things we’ve seen before. At first glance, DFO mimics old-school, style-arcade action-adventure games, the sort of thing you might have been pumping quarters into a decade ago.

Not so old-school, however, are the game’s MMO features: a persistent, shared world, character advancement, quests, and loot. These aren’t features we’d have ever thought of putting together, but we can assure you that the resulting low-rez adventure is fast-paced and fun. Best of all? You won’t need a pocket full of quarters to enjoy it.

NPCs do all the standard stuff: give quests, sell skills and additionally are quite colorful. DFO’s non-player characters are also designed to be fun and all have dialog. In fact, the English voice recording sessions for many of them begin next week. This colorful design philosophy translates to the levels as well, they’re all very beautiful.

Overall, the controls are designed to be simple and thus fast, it’s all about the action. You’re able to play solo, but being an online game the advantage is with party play and PvP. As for what to expect for PvP, think Street Fighter or Mortal Combat games — it’s all about the duel.

The world is highly instanced — all dungeons (four players max) are instanced. Towns and cities are open on the other hand. Every dungeon has four difficulty levels and the dungeons are modulated (i.e. Diablo, a little different each time you run them) At the end of a dungeon, players are ranked for their style/technicality and rewarded based on their given score. Rewards are random and are based more or less on the level of the dungeon. This works by the game letting you pick a card, your reward is whatever loot lies behind the chosen card. Additionally, loot does drop from defeated monsters.

You can have up to 12 characters on your account. The design team haven’t decided what exactly will go in their item shop yet. Each character class has the same default look, but there are lots of outfits that you can customize your look with and nine costume slots total. As for guilds, since the game features a small party structure, guilds are very important for socialization.

To apply to be part of the beta, go to Dungeon Fighter Online Beta Application Program, click on ‘Apply for Closed Beta’, then sign up and fill out a short questionnaire.

Source: Dungeon Fighter Online Beta Application Program